EDMONDS — The Edmonds-Woodway football team isn’t accustomed to sub .500 seasons.
The Warriors had posted three straight 6-3 campaigns prior to last year. So when Edmonds-Woodway finished the 2003 season with a 4-6 record, coach John Gradwohl and his staff spent a lot of time in the offseason evaluating the program.
Everything was up for discussion. Topics included how practices were organized, what areas were emphasized at practices, how the coaches interacted with the kids and what motivated players to come out for football.
“As a coach you can always do a better job,” Gradwohl said. “Even when you’re 6-3 or 9-0, you always can do a better job.”
The process appears to have benefited the team based on the first couple weeks of practices.
“I hope we’ve changed for the positive to create an atmosphere for success,” Gradwohl said. “When I say success I mean kids getting better and having fun. To me that’s success. If you get better and have fun, you’re doing good.”
As they started to prepare for their opener against district rival Mountlake Terrace, the Warriors were continuing to progress.
“We’ve got a ways to go but I think we’re on track,” Gradwohl said after a Saturday practice session. “There were not very many miscues today. Guys were lining up right. They know where to go.”
The level of varsity experience is lower than it has been in the past with three offensive and four defensive starters back from last year.
Those stepping up to varsity have demonstrated they are ready to play through their efforts at Central Washington team camp and a three-day retreat at Camp Brotherhood in Mount Vernon last week.
Senior tight end/defensive linemen Andrew Donaldson isn’t overly concerned about the lack of experience.
“Over the summer … a lot of guys got in a lot of reps,” Donaldson said. “I think everybody has gotten a lot of experience and gotten their confidence. That’s what we need.”
What Edmonds-Woodway lacks in experience, it hopes to make up in part with numbers, Donaldson said.
“We have a lot of depth on both sides of the ball,” he said. “A lot of people are going to be playing, which is good because it’ll keep the starters fresh.”
Gradwohl likes what he’s seen from the newcomers but added he is waiting to see how everyone will perform in actual games.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who played sophomore and JV football last year,” Gradwohl said. “They’re stepping into new roles and you never really know until they’re in the battle. They’re on track. They should do well. Hopefully, they’ll step up to the challenge.”
The Edmonds-Woodway backfield is undergoing a significant change with the departure of running back Glenn Gallagher. The offense pretty much revolved around the first-team, all-league running back, who finished with a school-record 2,311 rushing yards.
The Warriors, if they want to, could continue to focus on the ground game, said Gradwohl, who noted that he has three or four solid tailbacks and the same number of fullbacks.
“That’s probably how many we’ll play. We’ll play a lot,” he said.
Senior lineman Brandon Kees likes the versatility those players bring to the backfield.
“We’ll be switching it up a lot,” he said. “We’ll be able to give a lot of different looks. Each (running back) brings something different to the field. We’ll be able to use them all.”
Gradwohl, however, asserted that the offense needs to be able to both run and pass in order to be successful. The latter responsibilities fall to new starting quarterback John Dawson.
The senior signal caller and junior Randy Anderson engaged in a spirited competition at practice and Gradwohl has confidence in both passers.
“They both really worked hard,” he said. “They challenged each other, but they worked with each other, coached each other. They work together in a competitive way.”
Edmonds-Woodway has all the necessary elements — solid quarterbacks, talented wide receivers and quality linemen — to develop its passing game.
“We just need to make a commitment to throwing,” Gradwohl said.
If there was an overriding lesson the returning players learned from last year’s disappointing season, it is that they are taking nothing for granted.
“We can’t expect to be given anything,” Donaldson said. “We’ve got to earn what we want … we plan on being confident knowing that we’re going to get the job done. We can’t expect just to come out and for other teams to lay down for us.
“We’ve got to trust in ourselves and be ready to fight.”
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